[tor-teachers] Open, Onion and Off-the-Record == O3? Ozone?

[J.M. Porup]

On Wed, Nov 04, 2015 at 10:23:38AM -0500, Nathan of Guardian wrote:
> 
> 
> On Wed, Nov 4, 2015, at 10:02 AM, J.M. Porup wrote:
> > > >> Perhaps, calling it Ozone, is too clever, but just using the phrase
> > > >> "Open, Onion and Off-the-Record" is an easy meme that could stick?
> > 
> > Having spent some (admittedly disagreeable) time in marketing, I would 
> > encourage thinking less about clever/punny names and instead names that 
> > "say what it is."
> > 
> > I have found Don Norman's "The Design of Everyday Things" to be useful
> > in this regard.
> > 
> > The name should answer the question "What is it?" in a way that
> > non-technical end users immediately understand...and in a way that they
> > can easily communicate to others.
> > 
> > I do not like to give criticism without offering an alternative, but I
> > fear nothing comes to mind right now.
> 
> Smart, considerate criticism is always welcome!
> 
> Is "Open, Onion Routed and Off-the-Record" not saying what it is in
> mostly plain english? I am happy with that longer version of the
> description of "What is it?" or "Why do we recommend it?".

One of the rules of thumb in advertising is to tout "benefits, not
features."

For instance, many people who could benefit from using Tor don't need 
to know how onion routing works under the hood (or even the phrase
"onion routing".)

Similarly, talking up "Open" as a feature may not resonate with a
non-technical audience that likely knows little about open source
software.

Growing technical awareness will change your comms strategy as time
passes, but I think the urgency of the message requires greater
simplification for non-technical end users.

Does that help?

Jens